British immigration: policy must include integration strategy

Immigrants to Britain must learn English before they arrive or be enrolled in compulsory language classes straightaway, a report released on Thursday said.

The first report from the all-party parliamentary group on social integration has advised the government and makes recommendations for the government’s approach to economic migration.

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A focus on integration process which starts immediately after arrival is at the center of the report’s suggestions.

It said that a lack of language skills and knowledge of UK laws and traditions are highlighted as one of the main barriers to integration.

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The group advocates exploring the introduction of region-specific visas based on the Canadian model, which could see quotas set locally by governments in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales and city regions.

Directing the flow of economic migrants to particular areas according to population and economic need may also help to tackle negative views on immigration.

According to the report, “that has become prevalent in areas dealing with rapid changes to their social makeup.

“The government must take care in how they frame post-Brexit immigration policy announcements so as not to create further social division avoid immigration rhetoric being conflated with issues of counter-terrorism.’’

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Lawmaker Chuka Umunna, who chairs the group, said the government’s failure to address the lack of integration had “left a vacuum for extremists and peddlers of hate to exploit”.

Umunna advocated a new approach to immigration “between the laissez-faire multiculturalism favoured by successive British governments and the assimilationist politics of the French Burkina ban” to help rebuild a divided post-referendum Britain.

 

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